Keep Negativity Out of Q&A: Obama and "We Don't Have a Strategy Yet"

Yesterday, after Barack Obama held a press briefing to address the tumultuous events taking place in the Middle East, NBC’s Chuck Todd asked him, “Do you need Congress's approval to go into Syria?”

The president replied:

You know, I have consulted with Congress throughout this process. I am confident that as commander in chief I have the authorities to engage in the acts that we are conducting currently. As our strategy develops, we will continue to consult with Congress, and I do think that it'll be important for Congress to weigh in and we're -- that our consultations with Congress continue to develop so that the American people are part of the debate.

But I don't want to put the cart before the horse. We don't have a strategy yet.

But the wheels were in motion. The president, whose public opinion polls have been dawdling in the low 40s, has been taking intense heat from opponents and supporters alike for his what they perceive to be his lack of action in foreign affairs. Those six words will undoubtedly add momentum to those charges. To extend the wheel metaphor, however, those charges are indeed putting the cart before the horse. Looking at the full context of the president’s words, he is in the process of developing his strategy with Congress, he is not without a strategy.

His problem lies in the artless way he stated his position: negatively. This is a close cousin of his negatively stated “Don’t do stupid stuff,” a subject I wrote about in last week’s Forbes blog; and a distant cousin of the words he uttered during a campaign appearance in the 2012 election: “You didn’t build that.”

English: President Barack Obama delivers a statement in the East Room of the White House on the mission against Osama bin Laden, May 1, 2011 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help. There was a great teacher somewhere in your life. Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive. Somebody invested in roads and bridges. If you’ve got a business — you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen.

The Romney team immediately seized and isolated the “you didn’t build that” phrase and began a campaign that claimed it was “a slap in the face to the American Dream,” when it was actually a tribute to American cooperation.

Barack Obama survived being taken out of context in 2012, but if he keeps framing his positions by what they are not, his next 25 months in office will be very long and very difficult.